Universal Studios' $2 million production was one of the costliest of the silent era, with more than 2400 actors, and a shooting schedule of 19 months. It follows Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist novel about a black family torn apart by slavery. This version contains heroine Eliza's (Fischer) flight across the ice floes, which was borrowed by D.W. Griffith for his film "Way Down East."